Elderly in care more likely to be depressed
The Daily Telegraph, July 30, 1996
ELDERLY people in care are twice as likely to suffer from depression as those living in their own homes, according to a survey published today.
Suicide rates among the over-64s are the highest in the UK, it said in suggesting that tens of thousands of elderly people living in care homes are not being treated for depression.
The study of 3,000 family doctors shows that many physicians fail to detect the life-threatening illness, estimated to hit 160,000 people in residential care. But although half of them are aware of the likelihood of depression, the survey believes little is done to ease suffering.
Only six per cent of doctors had a formal system in place to detect depression in older people and only half routinely checked for depression in their health assessments for over-75s.
Sally Greengross, director of Age Concern England, said: "Depression is too often seen as an inevitable consequence of old age and is left untreated. This survey highlights that more needs to be done to assist GPs and care home staff to identify and treat depression with a range of therapies in older people."
There are about 535,000 older people living in residential and nursing homes in Britain out of the current 10.5 million pensioners. Around five per cent of the general population is said to suffer from depression, a figure that rises to 15 per cent in older people and more than 30 per cent among those in care homes.
Dr Sube Banerjee, of the Institute of Psychiatry, accused family doctors of ignoring the problem because of worries of an increased workload.
They were also "needlessly pessimistic" about treatments, despite evidence that the illness could be treated in a number of ways by care home staff as well as GPs, he added.
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